Malt beverages, being fermented, contain carbohydrates, but only traces of sugars, and sweetness is not a predominant flavor. Certain malt beverages, for reasons of their intended market segment, require added smoothness and fullness. Such added flavor cannot be provided by the known means of arresting the fermentation and/or by the addition of priming sugars, for example, because the complete beverage would then be too high in sugars or in calories, or because such procedures are not considered good brewing practice in a modern context of microbial sanitation. The use of priming sugars, e.g. the dosing of finished beer with small amounts of dextrose or corn syrup, has historically been the procedure by which beer flavor could be smoothed and sweetened. However, this procedure carries the risk of causing bacteriological problems by introducing fermentable carbohydrates into an area of the brewery where finished beer quality can be damaged inadvertently by microorganisms. The use of Aspartame has not been previously described in malt beverages, although it is well known in diet soft drinks; see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,475,403 and 3,492,131.
Accordingly, it is the basic object of this invention to improve the fullness and flavor of malt beverages without adding calories or significant cost and in a safe and reliable manner.
It is a further object of this invention to improve the flavor of certain malt beverages having a degree of fermentation (attenuation), either lower or higher than that of normally fermented beer, such as low caloric, low alcohol products, non-alcoholic malt beverages, fruit-flavored malt beverages or the like.
It is a further and specific object of this invention to improve the smoothness of malt beverages, be they deficient in this attribute because of a higher alcohol to extract ratio (e.g. a high degree of fermentation) than normal lager beers, or because of age, or because of a combination of causes.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following summary and detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.